As the House of Representatives starts its 16th congressional session
later this July, apprehensions are rife that it will push for the
complete privatization of public hospitals in the country, leaving poor
patients at the mercy of corporate interests.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño is appealing to his colleagues to
withdraw support to bills that aim to corporatize the country’s public
hospitals. He said lawmakers should realize that House Bill 6069 or
“An Act Creating National Government Hospital Corporations,” has dire,
if not life-threatening implications for the country’s poorest
citizens. He said hospital corporatization and the government’s
Public-Private Partnership scheme will result to higher hospital fees.

“This bill and its counterpart measure Senate Bill 3130 or the
National Government Hospital Corporate Restructuring Act, will make
healthcare services inaccessible for poor families all over the
country,” he said.

House Bill 6069 is authored by Bacolod City Rep. Anthony Golez while Sen. Franklin Drilon is behind SB 3130.

Casiño is actively campaigning against public health privatization
saying that privatizing government hospitals will only worsen the
already considerable problems the hospitals are already facing. He said
many public hospitals are already charging exorbitant fees for their
services.

He said the corporatized Philippine Heart Center (PHC) and the
National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) already charge as much
as P415 ($9.65) to P430 ($10.23) for a chest x-ray while the Jose
Reyes Medical Center and the Rizal Medical Center, both of which are
among the 26 hospitals being targeted for corporatization charge only
P290 ($6.90) to P310 ($7.38) for the same service..... MORE